With 0.2 out the door and work starting on 0.3, I think it's time to
put a fresh face on the website. Some site-related issues I've noticed:
Technical
------------------------------
- Our Mediawiki installation is in desperate need of an upgrade
(we're using 1.4beta4, the current version is 1.10.1)
- The blog is using a different content management system (Blogger)
than the rest of the site (Mediawiki), thus we're all maintaining two
separate accounts to get content onto the site.
Content/Navigation
------------------------------
- Our blog is not functionally integrated into the overall site
(URL or navigation-wise)
- Content management/navigation of Mediawiki is problematic (pages
are not in well-defined parent categories, end-users have difficulty
accessing relevant content)
- Recent code progress is still not in a prominent location (making
it hard for users to know that we're still alive)
- We need good, recent documentation in an easily searchable/
browsable format
- URLs have a lot of cruft (ie: the About page is at http://
www.etoile-project.org/etoile/mediawiki/index.php?
title=EtoileWiki:About , which would be much better as just http://
etoile-project.org/about )
Visual
------------------------------
- Our identity is using violet, white, gray and black now -- the
blue, green and patterned background are not a major part of our
current identity as of 0.2, and will not be used at all for 0.3
- Large images (such as screenshots) overflow the page's edges
- The large central flower image, while attractive, provides no
functional information and becomes quickly redundant on subpages
- The blog should be using a similar theme as the rest of the site
I know most people are comfortable with Mediawiki based on
conversations we've had before, but I'm wondering if using something
else wouldn't be better. In the past I've proposed WordPress, but
Drupal looks like it might be a good long-term solution also/instead.
I'm wondering if anyone has any other suggestions about what to do
with the site, or if there are any major objections to moving to
something drastically different in the process of building 0.3.
I have some proposals for a new site hierarchy, which I've outlined
below -- if no one has any objections to it, I'd like us to move to
something that is more closely in line with this structure,
regardless of what underlying technical solution we use. A clean URL
hierarchy will help us keep new content focused and near other
relevant content. It will be important to add redirects
into .htaccess so that old links are redirected to the proper
location. This won't be easy as it'll have to all be done by hand,
but it needs to happen to make sure people are ending up in
(approximately) the right location.
Home etoile-project.org
- News /news (blogs, press, feeds)
- Etoile /etoile -> /etoile/$version (overview)
- Download /download -> /etoile/$version/download
(should also provide a link to /more)
- Features /features -> /etoile/$version/features
- Support /support (contact, bug submission, etc)
- Get More /more (apps, add-ons, etc)
- For Developers /dev -> dev.etoile-project.org
- Getting Started dev.etoile-project.org/start
- Installation dev.etoile-project.org/install
- Documentation dev.etoile-project.org/docs (needs to allow for
user comments)
- Status dev.etoile-project.org/status (CIA feed)
( -> represents a redirect)
Please let me know if there is anything I'm missing. Other comments,
suggestions, flames, etc are always welcome.
Thanks!
J.
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